Star Trek: Generations: Takoyaki on the River
by rylansato
Summary: The Enterprise is sent to meet with the newly found Lukari as a first contact representative. Captain Kyou Zofchak remembers her one of her own first contact missions as a child. *This was written for one of Star Trek Online's writing contests. Some things were changed from the original to fit the continuity of my other stories on here.*


Takoyaki on the River

Captain Kyou Zofchak stood in front of the mirror in her quarters as she was placing her rank pips on the collar of her dress uniform. They had to be perfectly in alignment and going with the angle of the collar. It always took her a few tries to get them the way she wanted them. The door chimed.

"Come in," Kyou said.

The doors parted to reveal Kyou's twin sister, Ryou, the ship's chief medical officer. Ryou was already dressed in her dress uniform. While Kyou liked these form fitting uniforms, she wasn't a fan of the white torso of hers while other officers sported gray torsos. She felt the gray fit the overall style and design a lot better than the white.

Ryou came over and stood in front of her sister, inspecting her uniform incase Kyou had missed anything. She lightly tugged on Kyou's collar, straightening it. She made a few other minor alterations.

"Don't worry," Ryou said. "I'm sure this dinner will go well."

"As long as we don't tap into our cases of Romulan Ale then we should be fine," Kyou joked. She returned to the mirror for one last visual inspection.

"I'm all for being part of the delegation but not leading it," Kyou said. "I thought this was part of Ambassador Sugihara's job. Every time we're at ESD, he's always in Admiral Janeway's office."

Ryou knew her sister wasn't really complaining. It was her way to get past her nerves. Even at the academy, she usually made some sort of joke to get herself to calm down. Although now, she couldn't be so open about her feelings as she was the captain.

Kyou, satisfied with her appearance, sat down on the sofa that was positioned underneath the window. She looked out the large, bluish-purple swirling gas giant known as Lukari V, which reminded her of Jupiter.

"Do you remember when we were six years old and we met someone from another world for the first time?" she asked without taking her gaze away from the planet.

"How could I forget?" Ryou asked as she sat down on the opposite end of the sofa. "It was a big moment for us. We thought we were the saviors of the Federation because we helped a lost Tamarian child."

Kyou chuckled and nodded. "Yep, that was a big day for many people. Tama Prime had just become a member of the Federation which is why there were so many Tamarians on Earth that day but the two of us didn't know a thing about the Tamarians."

Years before becoming captain of the USS Enterprise, six year old Kyou Zofchak stood in Osaka, Japan watching boats go by on one of the rivers that flowed through the city. She waited for Ryou to return as her sister wanted to get some takoyaki from a food vendor. Osaka was known for its takoyaki and she loved eating the authentic thing over the stuff the replicator made.

She enjoyed being back on Earth, at least for a short time. While she did enjoy life on the Alexandria, it did get boring at times. There weren't a lot of kids on the ship with whom to play. Being back on Earth was exciting for her as well as being among people she didn't know. Osaka was full of people like always, especially right here along the Dotonbori River.

She walked up the wooden steps and onto the bridge to peer down at the water below. The bridge was for walking only and it gave off an old fashioned and warm vibe. It was probably due to it being made from wood instead of concrete, metal or some type of alloy that were used to make most things these days. She watched a ferry full of humans and aliens of different species go under the bridge and out of sight. She enjoyed watching people and how they went about their days.

She spotted someone sitting alone on the edge of the bridge with their feet hanging off the side and arms resting on the wooden railing. Kyou instantly noticed this person was not human but someone from a different world. There were plenty of aliens around but she never talked to any of them because she never met any aliens that were her own age and adults were boring. She kept her distance but she was curious. She walked around trying to get a good look at the alien's facial features.

The child had half of its face buried in its arms but from what Kyou could tell this alien had light brown skin, no hair, and dark red markings, most noticeably on the head. Ridges ran up the sides of the head. One ridge ran up the middle from the nose to the back of the head. The nose wasn't very prominent as it was mainly two long slits representing nostrils. There were no ears but there were two small holes on the sides, just a little higher than where a human's ear would be located. She had seen pictures of many different aliens and she could remember some but she didn't know about this one that sat in front of her.

Upon closer inspection she noticed this child was also crying. Kyou looked around and saw that no one really paid any attention to the child except for her. She cautiously approached her, not wanting to startle her too badly. She squatted next to the child.

"Are you okay?" Kyou asked. The child suddenly looked up at Kyou. Judging by look of the child's face, Kyou assumed the child was female. "What's wrong? Are you lost?"

"Darmok on the ocean," the girl said in whimper.

Kyou was surprised by the response. "Darmok on the ocean?" Kyou wondered if her universal translator was broken. Kyou pointed to the river. "Do you mean that? We call that a river, not an ocean."

The girl shook her head and pointed to herself. "Darmok on the ocean."

"Your name is Darmok?" Kyou asked pointing to her.

The girl shook her head again. "Kadir beneath Mo Moteh."

Kyou was even more confused. She looked up and saw her sister was standing where Kyou had been previously. Kyou waved to get her attention. Ryou's eyes locked onto Kyou and she hurried over with a small container of takoyaki.

"What's going on?" Ryou asked as she walked up to them.

"This girl is lost and I'm trying to help but the universal translator isn't working right," Kyou said. "It's translating into English but the words don't make sense."

The alien girl looked up to the newcomer and was a bit surprised. She looked from Ryou to Kyou and then back to Ryou.

Kyou laughed, understanding her confusion. "We're twins," she said. She stood closer to Ryou and pointed to both of their faces. "Our face. Same."

"Sokath, his eyes opened," the girl said nodding.

"She seemed to understand what you meant," Ryou said.

Kyou, not knowing what else to do, stabbed one of the fried balls with a toothpick and held it in front of the girl. The girl looked at it with uncertain eyes.

"Here," Kyou said. "It's food. "It's very good."

The girl slowly reached up for it and gingerly took it from Kyou. She seemed unsure about what to do next. She watched the two human girls eat one and she mimicked their actions. Her face registered surprise and Kyou knew why. The flavor of the little round ball was unique. It was deceptively soft. Kyou could tell the smile on the girl's face meant she liked the food. Kyou handed her another one.

Kyou placed a hand on her chest. "Kyou." She then pointed to her sister. "Ryou." She then pointed to the girl, hoping she caught her intention. The girl pointed to herself and Kyou nodded enthusiastically, knowing she was getting somewhere.

"Rietae," the girl said.

"Rietae?" Kyou asked. "Your name is Rietae." The twins, flanking Rietae, sat down and dangled their feet over the bridge as they continued to share their takoyaki.

"Darmok and Jalad on the ocean," Rietae said.

Kyou just smiled brightly and nodded.


End file.
